Post-it Notes are littered on one of the walls in the coaches office with small quotes that reflect the time period we were inspired to write them. The tradition was started by Coaches Brucki and Hidlay, and when I saw what they were doing I thought it was a great idea and started doing the same. One of the Post-it Notes reads, “what a difference a day and four at large bids make.” I wrote that right after the bids were released following last year’s ACC tournament. The day we got the bids felt amazing, but one day prior we were not feeling so great.
The 2025 ACC Tournament was not a good one for the Card. We grossly underperformed, placing 5th, which left our NCAA Tournament fate in the hands of the “At Large Committee”, a situation I never wanted this team to be in. Fortunately, the “At Large Committee” (I’m actually not sure that is the name, but we will go with it) was generous and doubled our qualifiers to the NCAA. But relying on generosity is not a strategy. It was clear we needed to make some adjustments for the 2026 season.
Entering the ACC was a challenging shift for the program and in the 2024–2025 season there was a lot of trial and error. While we had a good dual season going 10-5, chaos was the theme, as we were traveling across the country to new places and taking on unfamiliar foes. New opponents. New styles. New environments. That year was a crash course.
We learned a lot in that season, made some corrections, and I think that paid big dividends this year.
Overall, I would say we had a good performance at the 2026 ACC tournament, but not a great performance. We are saving that for the NCAA Championships. We did enough to take 2nd place in a conference that has some incredible talent. Virginia Tech ran away with the title, wrestling out of their minds, meeting or exceeding their seed at nearly every weight. Credit where credit is due. They were excellent.
But our guys showed up and wrestled well when it mattered, producing two conference champions and eight automatic NCAA qualifiers. That is progress.
Daniel Cardenas continues to quietly build one of the best seasons in the country at 157 pounds. As the top seed he wrestled with confidence all weekend, and although the score didn’t reflect it, in a 5-2 win over Va Tech’s Ethan Miller, he was dominant and there was no question who was in charge of the match. Daniel now has two conference titles in his career, interestingly in two different conferences, and he is wrestling with the kind of maturity that you love to see this time of year.
He has also been putting up bonus points all season long. That tells you a lot about how he approaches matches. He does not wrestle to survive. He wrestles to dominate.
Jack Consiglio provided one of the best stories of the tournament. A redshirt freshman stepping into the ACC finals at 141 pounds against North Carolina’s Luke Simcox is not exactly a small stage. Jack handled it like a veteran, winning a tight 4-3 match to claim the title. While winning the title was impressive, how Jack handled adversity in the weeks leading up to that title, was the real testament to Jack’s desire to be great. He is a big time leader by example.
We also had three wrestlers reach the finals but fall just short. Nico Provo continues to show he can compete with anyone in the country at 125 pounds. His semifinal win over defending NCAA champion Vincent Robinson was one of the best performances of the weekend. Nico has now beaten him twice this season. In the finals he dropped a tight one in the tiebreakers to Virginia Tech’s Eddie Ventresca, the #2 seed at the NCAA’s, in a match that could have swung either way.
Tyler Knox powered his way to the finals at 133 with a pair of dominant wins before running into a tough opponent from Virginia Tech. Tyler is a returning All American and now a two time NCAA qualifier. That experience should serve him well in the championship.
At 197 pounds, true freshman Angelo Posada continued his breakout season. After earning the top seed he battled into the finals with a tough semifinal win over his high school teammate Robert Platt. For a freshman to step into this conference and immediately compete at that level says a lot about his ceiling.
Three more Cardinal wrestlers battled back to claim third place finishes and punch their tickets to Cleveland. Aden Valencia wrestled a strong tournament at 149 pounds, rebounding from a semifinal loss with two solid wins in the backside bracket. EJ Parco showed his toughness at 165, finishing the weekend with a win over NC State’s Will Denny to secure third place. At 184 pounds, Abraham Wojcikiewicz closed things out in dramatic fashion with a fall over Pitt’s number 1 seed Chase Kranitz to secure his NCAA berth.
When the dust settled, eight Stanford wrestlers had earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. That ties the second most qualifiers in program history and marks the second straight season we have reached that number.
Considering where we were a year ago leaving the ACC tournament, that is meaningful progress.
And that brings me back to the Post-it Note on the wall.
“What a difference a day and four at large bids make.”
Last year we walked out of the ACC tournament hoping the committee would take care of us. This year we walked out knowing eight of our guys had punched their ticket the hard way.
That is a much better feeling.
Now the focus shifts to Cleveland. Conference tournaments are important, but everyone in this sport knows the real measuring stick is the NCAA Championships. That is where the best wrestlers in the country line up and find out who they really are. We will wrestle fun, free, and full of grit when we need it.
Our team has grown a lot over the past two seasons. The move into the ACC forced us to adapt quickly, and I think it has made us a more cohesive unit in the process. The athletes have bought in, the staff has done a tremendous job preparing them, and the support from our alumni, donors, and the Bay Area wrestling community continues to push the program forward.
You can feel the momentum building around this team.
And I have a feeling another Post-it Note might end up on that wall soon.
Something like…
“What a difference a year makes.”
Next stop: Cleveland.
Let’s see what these guys can do.
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NCAA Championships
Brackets were released on Wednesday and the most common question I get is, what do you think of the seeds? My response is that I think they are great! We have 8 incredible wrestlers, who are healthy, and ready to chase down their goals. While some tournaments are slightly predictable based on seeds, the NCAA National Tournament is not, and after 30 years of going to this tournament I know that these brackets are going to “blow up” in relation to the seeds. It’s all about who can put together the best 5-8 matches across a three day period. We have eight matches in session one on Thursday and that is what we are focused on. I look forward to seeing everyone who is headed out to Cleveland!
Seeds: Provo 7, Knox 15, Consiglio 10, Valencia 10, Cardenas 9, Parco 27, Wojcikiewicz 28, Posada 9
Predicted Team Tournament Place Based on Seeds: 20
Tickets:
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Stanford Wrestling NCAA Social Details:
Date: Saturday, March 21st
Time: 2:00-4:30pm *Immediately after first session
Location: 834 Hurom Rd East Cleveland, OH 44115
The Clevelander Bar *We’ll be in the loft area upstairs
3 minute walk from arena: https://maps.app.goo.gl/WqBjv2Govy7nABHA6?g_st=ig
Donate to Event: We’ve reserved space for 75 guests. To help us cover the costs of the venue and catering, the suggested donation this year is $50 per person.
To Donate: Click Here
